At least one man was killed and 45 fishermen were missing after a powerful typhoon battered the northern Philippines, toppling power lines and dumping heavy rain across mountains, cities and the food-growing plain.

Five people have died in a landslide sparked by four days of heavy rain which flooded several villages in the northern Philippines, an army spokesman said today.

THE strongest typhoon in years to crash into the Philippines killed at least three people yesterday, leaving a wasteland of fallen trees and power poles and sending thousands scampering to safety in near-zero visibility.